Fancy by Iggy Azalea: the Song of the Summer? Chart data says yes.

Last week, Vulture’s Amanda Dobbins wrote a piece bemoaning the “default Song of Summer” status achieved by “Fancy,” the Iggy Azalea hit featuring Charli XCX. All but one of these seven summer-dominators swelled after the middle of July—and the exception, Heart’s “Alone” in ’87, missed by only one week: 1985: Tears for Fears, “Shout” – peak August 3 1986: Madonna, “Papa Don’t Preach” – peak August 16 1987: Heart, “Alone” – peak July 11 1988: Steve Winwood, “Roll with It” – peak July 30 1989: Richard Marx, “Right Here Waiting” – peak August 12 1990: Mariah Carey, “Vision of Love” – peak August 4 1991: Bryan Adams, “ I Do It for You” – peak July 27 But here’s the thing: Prior to November 1991, the Hot 100 was a pre-computer chart, without the benefit of Nielsen SoundScan data. You can see the pattern shift when you look at a baker’s dozen of summer-toppers that came after SoundScan went into effect on the Hot 100—only six out of these 13 seasonal smashes peaked after midsummer: 1992: Sir Mix-a-Lot, “Baby Got Back” – peak July 4 1993: UB40, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” – peak July 24 1994: All-4-One, “I Swear” – peak May 21 1995: TLC, “Waterfalls” – peak July 8 1996: Los del Rio, “Macarena ” – peak August 3 1997: Puff Daddy and Faith Evans feat. Charli XCX, “Fancy” – peak June 7 All in, over 22 data-accurate years on the charts from 1992 to 2013, late-summer songs have won the summer battle only seven times.